THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS III 



in the whole comparative anatomy; in short, of the 

 winged tribes, we trace, with an astonishment increasing 

 in proportion to the diligence of the research, the same 

 unceasing solicitude to adapt everything to their nature. 



Nor is it less worthy of remark that there is scarcely a 

 vegetable or animal production which some species of 

 bird does not seem created to feed upon ; and that, speak- 

 ing generally, wherever that peculiar production is to be 

 found, there is also to be found the particular kind of 

 bird to which it furnishes wholesome food. 



With some striking examples of this kind the sportsman 

 of our own country is well acquainted. He finds the par- 

 tridge in the plains, the woodcock in the forests, the 

 grouse on the moors, and the ptarmigan on tRe loftiest 

 peak of the mountains. He knows, too, that other species 

 migrate from country to country, seeking their food in 

 distant regions, over trackless oceans, and through an 

 extended atmosphere, when it fails in their native haunts. 

 The ornithologist is aware that instances of this kind are 

 not confined to the birds of game only, but form a rule so 

 universal as to deserve a place among the wonderful 

 adaptations which exist between the animal and vegetable 

 worlds. 



Nor is it to be forgotten that of all sublunary creatures 

 man alone is endowed with faculties capable of discerning 

 the Creator's hand in His works. Had not the human 

 race been called into existence all these magnificent pro- 

 visions would have been unappreciated and unknown. 



The glories of the Divine perfections would still indeed 

 have been inscribed on nature, but among earthly exist- 

 ences there would have been no eye to read and no heart 

 to feel them. Man has justly been called the priest of 

 nature; and while from the seen he rises to the unseen 

 from the temporal to the eternal he ought never to forget 

 that the high rank that has been assigned him implies a 

 high responsibility ; and that, in proportion as his vision 

 is enlarged, and his faculties are exalted, his duties and 

 obligations are, to an equal extent, increased. 



